Things were less rosy for the hybrid car in the US, where falling petrol prices were persuading buyers back into big SUVs and out of petrol-electric vehicles. Evidence of this was also seen in Toyota Prius sales in North America, which had halved during the last quarter of 2008.

But the biggest news in February was that we could finally get behind the wheel of the 300bhp Ford Focus RS. The most eagerly awaited hot hatch of the past five years lived up to expectations and Steve Sutcliffe delivered the verdict that the RS “is a freakishly good car at any money. And for £24,995 it’s just rude”.

We weren’t ignoring the hybrid hype, though. We pitted the Insight against its nemesis, the Mk3 Prius, and learnt that Honda’s new hybrid for the masses was less revolutionary than expected. In fact, it lost the fight to the Prius, which was due for replacement just a few months later.

The battle of economies continued in our city car shootout, in which the Toyota iQ took on the Smart Fortwo on the streets of London. Toyota was once again the winner, with the tiny four-seater providing an argument “so strong, so complete and so compelling that not even the cheaper, more charming Smart can counter it”.